dodge ram magnum 360 no spark

-
6

67valiant

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 2, 2007
Messages
52
Reaction score
0
just replaced my 5.2 to a 5.9 in my 98 dodge ram due to it throwin a rod, after putting the new engine in i had a bad ground and one little ground on the passenger side of the truck coming from the fire wall the block started to smoke, this was on the first inital turning over of the motor fixed all my grounds motor does not turn over fast like my brothers 99 ram, used his battery still slow, also have no spark, could i have burned up the coil or any other sensor? could the crank sensor not be grounded well to the block because i painted teh block? everything worked fine before pulled, also still have the computer from the 5.2, should still work with that computer correct? any help is appreciated thanks,
 
You have use your 5.9 computer. I have a 5.2 and got a 5.9 computer and the car won't start with the 5.9
 
dart64gt said:
You have use your 5.9 computer. I have a 5.2 and got a 5.9 computer and the car won't start with the 5.9
Click to expand...

What I'm worried about is all this "smoking."

WHERE IS THE BATTERY GROUNDED?

Sounds to me like the battery is grounded to the frame and not to the block and the starter can not get enough current. This is a VERY dangerous situation on modern EFI electronics laden systems, because it can cause other harness connections to "try" and become the ground path.

Go over your wiring carefully, and MAKE SURE you have a good heavy cable from the battery to the engine block.

(In my Ford Ranger, the ground cable has a "T" fitting in the cable. It goes from battery to frame and on to the block. On my truck, the cable got internally corroded right inside the cable next to the frame connector and would NOT crank the engine)
 
The smoking ground also worries me.

To test 67Dart273's theory, grab a set of jumper cables, and ground the engine to the frame and to the negative post on battery.

Regarding 64DartGT's post, it must be a hit or miss thing.
I put a 5.9 into my 97 Ram, and only changed the engine and flywheel. The 5.2 computer has been running the truck for 9 months with no problems whatsoever.

How did you time the motor? On Magnum motors, the distributor placement only gives the computer a camshaft position. Timing is completely under control of the computer. If you pulled distributor and re-installed, you could have issues there as well.
 
Backtobasics said:
How did you time the motor? On Magnum motors, the distributor placement only gives the computer a camshaft position. Timing is completely under control of the computer. If you pulled distributor and re-installed, you could have issues there as well.
Click to expand...
This^ You will need a scanner of some sort to monitor the timing as well.
 
the smokin was because i forgot to hook up one of my main grounds i fixed that problem, and ya i thats what i was really wondering about the computer, and as far as the distributer i brought the motor to TDC one number one on compression strok and installed the distributer with the rotor pointing at the number spark plug wire on cap, that is the correct way to do the magnum motors right?
 
That is how I did it and it started, but it was off. The reason it was off in my case was we took the heads and intake off (regasket everything, and port heads). While motor was upside down, the oil pump drive gear slid and moved.
I don't have the Chiltons with me, but there was a step by step guide on reinstalling distributor. I set it according to the manual, but because the drive gear moved, it was not happy in that spot. Mine is currently set by ear.
 
The slow crank can only be a few things....weak battery, bad cables, ground, or connections, failing starter, or binding engine.....is this a rebuilt engine or good used that you heard run? If it's the same starter, cables, and battery that you had on the old engine, and they were working fine then, I would say that they are probably not the problem. That leaves ground, connections, and something wrong with the engine.
As for no spark, the crank sensor doesn't need a good ground to the block. It's just a loop that picks up a magnetic pulse and transmits that to the computer. If you overheated some wires with your ground problem, you may have damaged the harness, computer, or other system component. You may need to get a FSM and do some trouble shooting. If it were me, I'd get the correct computer for the 360. They made them different for a reason. Doesn't hurt to have a spare when you're east of nowhere when it fails either.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top